Scott Walker goes broad on foreign policy

LAS VEGAS – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a Saturday morning speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition offered broad, but vague support for a muscular foreign policy and support for Israel, stopping short of the level of specificity craved by his audience.

The speech, to a gathering of influential Jewish donors and activists well-schooled in Middle Eastern affairs, would seem to offer little to skeptics who see foreign policy as a weakness for a potential Walker 2016 presidential run.

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The speech, to a gathering of influential Jewish donors and activists well-schooled in Middle Eastern affairs, would seem to offer little to skeptics who see foreign policy as a weakness for a potential Walker 2016 presidential run.

Walker chided the Obama administration as weak on national defense, specifically citing diminishing troop levels, and asserted “Israel should have an ally in the United States.” And while he conceded that foreign policy is “not an area that governors typically look at,” he mentioned that he was commander in chief of the Wisconsin National Guard, before shifting gears to domestic policy, a subject on which he was more animated.

He did reach for cultural common ground with his audience by explaining that he lights a menorah at the governor’s mansion during Hannukah and named his son “Matthew” – which means “gift from God” in Hebrew.

Walker’s speech stood in stark contrast to that which preceded it, from former Ambassador John Bolton, who offered a specific critique of American foreign policy in hot spots around the world, and even took an oblique swipe at the GOP’s libertarian wing. “Unfortunately, we see within our own party, a rising tide of what can only be called isolationism,” he said.

The RJC conference has become a cattle call of sorts for prospective GOP presidential candidates, featuring speeches from prospective GOP presidential candidates Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich.

Walker brushed off a question from RJC executive director Matt Brooks about 2016, saying he’s focused on his own reelection this fall.

“Any Republican who is talking about anything other than 2014 is doing a disservice to not only the party, but the country,” he said.